Triptolemos Becomes A Hero Demeter's Gift

Demeter returned to her home among the gods on Mount Olympos. But before she went she called Triptolemos, an older son of King Keleos to her and gave him her car which was drawn by winged dragons. There is nothing more precious to the gods than open, benevolent hearts and generous hospitality. The poorest and meanest man may be god-like in generosity, sharing his goods with open hand, as sunshine is poured out from the heavens. King Keleos had shown himself a most royal-hearted man in his princely generosity toward the goddess when she came in the guise of a poor old woman, and Demeter resolved to bestow upon him and upon mankind, for his sake, a blessing proportionate to her power and rank.

So she gave to Triptolemos something far better than her magic car and serpent-steeds. She taught him how to make the plough of iron. Heretofore men had ploughed the fields with the crudest of ploughs--a pointed stick, or an iron bar. She taught him how to turn a furrow and put the seed into it, and cover it up so that the birds should not eat it.

And when summer came she showed him how to cut the grain, to bring it in wagons to the barn where he was to thrash it, and to store it away, keeping each kind separate.

Triptolemos, being carried on his wagon through the air, sowed the precious grain all over the inhabited world and turned many a barren waste into a cultivated field. He taught the people everywhere, as Demeter had taught him, how to cultivate the soil. Thus he became a great benefactor to all mankind and induced a better way of living. For when people had farms to take care of, they ceased to roam aimlessly about the world. They built homes and learned to be friendly, and from this sprang up the government which should protect the home and make men happy and comfortable.

Triptolemos received the honors of a god, and the people of Eleusis built a temple to him close to the acropolis, where some of the stones of the temple may still be seen. But his best monument is the cultivated fields of barley, rye, and oats, and all the grains which from Demeter (Ceres) we call cereals.